Diocesan old boys and pupils are opposing a proposal at the direct subsidy scheme school to recruit girls under its new International Baccalaureate programme.
Headmaster of Diocesan Boys' School Terence Chang Cheuk-cheung said the proposal to recruit girls for the school year of 2010/11 would require consultation with students, parents and alumni.
'For IB programmes, it's better to have a gender mix because many classroom discussions involve gender issues. It's good to have both boys and girls to discuss issues with more academic perspectives,' Mr Chang said. However, he said old boys had expressed concerns over the proposal to enrol girls.
'The old boys fear this will break with the tradition. They think that DBS may not be DBS anymore. Prefect boys also came to see me this morning expressing their concern,' said Mr Chang. 'To some boys, this is changing the nature of the school. Once a few girls are coming in, does that mean there will be more girls?'
Diocesan School Old Boy's Association president Desmond Yip said he was not in a position to comment and preferred to leave the matter to the school.
The school is launching the cheapest IB programme in town, with the foundation year costing HK$48,000 and the second and third years costing HK$58,000.